Goin' to the chapel (and we already got married): The Ceremony

Hello there!

Today we decided to mix up our usual routine (of sitting 'round) and went antiquing! Antiquing is a loose term...we didn't actually purchase anything, we just went to look around. Our area has a big string of antique stores called Chamblee Antique Row. The stores range from thrift stores to antique furniture restoration places. We were really on the hunt for some antique buttons for some button art that I'm hoping to make, but we didn't end up finding anything purchase-worthy. We did, however, stumble onto some really cool stuff in the process.

One store had a huge collection of Coke memorabilia, and we thought of our friend Lori who collects Coke stuff.

This particular store was just completely packed with stuff--pretty much everything you could think of (and a ton you couldn't). This was a wall of antique lures and fishing equipment.

Antique stores are always full of creepy dolls. This one was egg shaped for an added fun factor.

Our personal favorite was probably the suitcase room. I love old luggage and Thomas loves boxes, so this was really fun to look at.

I thought this looked like Will Smith from afar. A creeped out version.

This shelf contained roughly 100 old broken in baseball gloves. Pretty cool!

 Thomas got all hipster in this hat, which was made in London in the 1940s.

On the way to the antique store, we stopped in to redeem a giveaway thing we got in the mail from a nearby car dealership. You could win a car, $25,000, $100, or $3. OF COURSE, we won $3, which we promptly spent on ice cream. Duh. Even though we weren't expecting to win anything (I mean, we aren't that dumb), we figured we had nothing to lose and we might as well go in. Admittedly I've been on a contest kick lately. After our antique adventures, we found a neat little caboose/ice cream shop. It was expensive, but worth it--especially after the 3 free dollars we'd gotten earlier.

 This giveaway caught our eye because that is a real key in the top left corner. Also, every single person that went into the dealership (besides the big winners) got $3. Expensive advertising, but we won't turn down money.

The delicious Frosty Caboose.

 Thomas got his old standby, Cookies n' Creme, and I got Chocolate Fetish, which had chocolate fudge and chocolate chips.

In the spirit of finding good deals (which I am always about), today I was doing my research before making the official Six Flags ticket purchase when I found a coupon code that got us $22 tickets instead of $30 tickets! I love me a good deal, so I went ahead and cashed that sucker in. Now instead of going on a weekend (March of Dimes Saturday at that) when it's sure to be crowded with school children, we're moving our trip up to this upcoming Monday while all those little beasts are in school. Yee! 

We also discovered that it would be a better deal for us to pay for parking and take lunch in a cooler in the car than to spend $8 on MARTA plus $30ish on expensive theme park lunch. So, I'm pretty much patting myself on the back for getting us into Six Flags for a mere $70 instead of the $100 we would've otherwise spent.  And this is why I research everything.

Now that I've rambled about that for a sufficient amount of time, here's today's wedding post! Finally, the ceremony has arrived. (Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, all photos below were taken by our friends at Cinderella Photography). 

 We decided to start our ceremony in a non-traditional (but awesome!) way with a ring warming, beginning the rings with our moms.

During a ring warming, the actual rings are passed throughout the guests so that each person can pray/wish over them, and by the time they get back to the officiant they've been warmed physically and metaphorically. We wanted to personally involve each guest, and this worked for us because we had a small ceremony. Read a bit more about ring warmings here.

 Oh, don't mind me, I'm just glowing magically.

The groom's face when the bride walks in is always the best part of a wedding. I'll have a snapshot of this in my memory forever.

I told Thomas he couldn't thumbs up me when I walked in, so this was the face equivalent. I liked it. 

It should be mentioned that at this point, Lauren reached forward to fluff my train and discovered a large spider underneath. She made the right choice by not alerting me until well after the fact, and I had actually forgotten until she reminded me again yesterday. We could've had an America's Funniest Home-video on our hands.

From here on, everything went super fast. I was only involved in like 20% of the ceremony! Ha.

 We exchanged rings...

And then trumpets blared and angels sang and stuff.

"WE'RE MAWWWIED!"

So we skated on outta there...

I LOVE this picture! Thanks to whoever took it (friend/family photo).

Tomorrow will begin the reception recaps! Hopefully you guys are enjoying this because there's still lots more to show. 

Also, Princess Charlotte says hey.

-T, K, J, & C